Turning 60 on the 30th, planning to wear the black with blue egypt shirt i got at this show.
these days i got my gris gris full o' the 7 Walkers, wowed every time i see them. most recently in golden gate park at hsb, hermosa beach and san juan capistrano, too whipped to make up to santa cruz the next nite

eric smith
laguna beach ca
eric.r.smith@cox.net

First off the only down turn is the closing of Winterland the next night that over shadows this show.Too bad because UCLA got a kicker of a show.To be honest I listen to 12/30 more than 12/31.I know I'll hear about that from my fellow Deadheads,but as an older DH,I can tell you this as NOT TO BE MISSED!!!!!!Set list is a dream for me and is played just sweetly.Everyone is at the top of thier game.Keith,despite all his documented problems of the time just shines in the first set.Listen to his break on "TLEO",it reminds one of why he got the gig back in '71.And the way the band is gelling during the late set placement of "Sugaree",just gives a peak of what's on the other side of the set break.
Now the fun begins.Set 2 could have been the New Year's set easily.The then familer trio of "Miracle">"Bertha">"Good Lovin'" to kick things off,one might think Jerry would give a sweet "Ship Of Fools" just to cool things a bit,but no,here comes a charging "Scarlet">"Fire".Then up the ante with "Playin'">Shakedown">"Drums",I'll bet some were wondering WTF?.Just sit back it gets better.The interplay between Hamza,the drummers and the crowd is fantastic.Look at the Closing of Winterland DVD where Mickey & Bobby are "interviewed" between sets(can we say a little altered boys?,Mickey talks about the night before (this night)where they had such a great time with Hmza and the crowd.The only other "Ollin Arageed" that's better is the ones in Egypt,but then again it's EGYPT,ya know.
After a brief "Space","Saint Stephen"!!!Are you kidding?The rest of the set is just a blaze of music,no post Drums Jerry ballad at all.I say again,this show is NOT TO BE MISSED.The recording is excellent for not just '78,but for any year old and new.In all the years I've been into this,for me the shows go all the way back to 7/1/78,this was a show I wish I could have been at.I don't have a time machine,but I can listen to this any day of the week and wonder.What that winter night in LA was really like,and this recording is as good as it gets.

for my tastes, this is the best olin arageed, by far. the audience is nice, too, as it captures the complex clapping of those on hand (pun intended). i have long imagined what it would have been like to attend such a performance! in addition, this has long been in one of my drumz/space mixes. it is sublime, not to mention that the rest of the show rocks. all in all, this is a far more muscular performance than 12-31, though it didn't include the blues brothers, nrps and breakfast.

Firstly, who is "Clive" that Weir substitutes for "life" Jack Straw? Well, I'll get to that, momentarily. Oh well, besides this being my only "St. Stephen"! Which not simply because for me it was the only one, but having, like probably most of you, heard many other recorded performances, this one is absolutely unique in part of the instrumental progression I still it in color in the fact that Garcia plays in the opposite direction in terms of ascending verses descending, unlike every other I can remember. Why and how? Well since, meanwhile even I though I was recording from well in front of the board; from having been looking at them through, with my elbows each steadily planted on either side of my recorder that I vigorously contend is better than the important to note still not yet been released for another =/< 4 months well known future as a common standard machine Sony D5 and later still, D5M) J.V.C. KD2 with super ANRS noise reduction which alone is far better than Dolby B and at least comparable with but not compatible with Dolby C) despite in being somewhat bigger in size giving it besides the results themselves which obviously are most important, in its use better metering in terms both of sight and control as an analogy but not exactly the same relational difference for example, the differences in readout/control (smooth or the lack there of) between the D6 vs. the D5 metering strapped around my neck, with my microphones strapped one to each side of) my binoculars. Which turned out great! Given that this monumental performance is not only well over 3 hours in total in which I did goof a very tiny bit at the beginning of "They Love Each Other". Not withstanding, this 12 song 1st set (one of the three longest I ever) causing a cut in tune like on the remember exactly probably "Stagger Lee"? So my hat's off to this guy since as far as I knew at the time he was the only other fellow who managed to get this!
Nevertheless, still we both got all the way through as normal for me having a flip but was not as well as if the show were more like normally other shows were in the 2nd set to the end (see below). Unlike that soundboard which got cut twice more before than ever worse ending all together in "St. Stephen". So here's the rest of all of Matthew Kelly (see below). from "Not Fade Away" on etc.? And who's got mine that includes this too?
Anyway, I do recall I was ~10-20 feet in front of this guy here with the Nagra! And the somewhat embarrassing proof is here just before "Stagger Lee" it is me you hear calling out for what we had to wait ~5 1/2 more years later at Ventura 1982/7/18! Even so, at least I didn't make any noise during the music. Gladly, I can honestly say besides even later than than in fact, more than just one, successfully at times shocklingly they honored what I sought but those are other stories for other show's review!
But to answer the above back to the 1st set: Bob Weir is referring to Clive Davis the head of Arista Records with who they had just signed their new contract with for the "Shakedown Street" album. Even though I don't recall the release date of that regarding that he supposedly, having been in attendance here, complained that they didn't play "any new" or was it "many" since that's not true, indeed they did play five tunes from that one. (Now that I think about it the "Terrapin Station" album is also on Arista but yes they did play one from that too; so if the "Skakedown Street" album wasn't yet released then perhaps it is that he was referring to?)
It certainly isn't the only time I've heard Weir say the following in "Mexicali Blues" but not often "Everybody Polka" since the rhythm of that song is in a polka style. Check out the way Jerry really powerfully instrumental especially the final C chord of (as I am at this moment feeling the chills all over not just in my spine as I just listened now as I re-write this) of definitely the greatest version I ever heard "Tennessee Jed". Again absolutely unique, I never elsewhere quite heard him grab that chord like he does here!
This was the the very best ever performance of "Olin Arrageed" with Hamza El-Din mostly because they developed it with Garcia taking off on the melody more so, as well as given this unusually syncopated piece Mickey Hart getting much more of the audience to more corrected than ever participate in what back then not know what it's actual title was I called the "Clamp Jam" thusly superior even than any of the ones I also recorded Winterland back in October before this (the place where Hamza also played his "Oud" which is a little a Lute or a similar Middle Eastern instrument I don't recall the name off)! And cetainly more so than the increacingly dull performances, much later! And the encore "One More Saturday Night" isn't the best I've ever heard but it still it cooked indeed, with Matthew Kelly!
Oh well, I hope who took my recording away from me several years later eventually came to appreciate what he had obtained, but I have strong doubts of that and suspect it may have been erased or trashed, boo-hoo! Regardless, of what was my great fortune for a while that turned rotten, I can assure you that this is highly recommended!

Augy
San Diego

I was 18 years old, unfamiliar with most of the songs, it changed my life, need I say more.

3:46 into Promised Jerry goes insane and gets so caught up in the relentless madness that he blows it and then manages to recover magnificently. A one in a million.

This is a good show -- like they burned themselves out before the New Years thing. This is a superior show to the next night.

It's amazing to me as tired as they must have been after pouring themselves to the corner on this one that they were able to muster such a performance on the Closing of Winterland.

To truly enjoy: listen through headphones and crank it up. You'll hear that this is a remarkable recording.

A friend once said, "If all AUD's sounded like this one I might never listen to another SBD."

and certainly a worthy, and fairly lenghty, perfomance.

This is a solid show, especially from Scarlet to the end. The Stephen > Nfa > Gdtrfb is nice. A really unique Scarlet>fire.

This show is not quite beautiful enough to bring you to tears, but the good thing is that every song is played well, there are no clunkers.

I was at this show and it was the first time that I had heard St. Stephen live. Since that has always been one of my favs, I was in seventh heaven. The quality of this tape is nice: just enough audience to have excitement and life while keeping a pretty good sound quality on the music. I got a lot of energy from this entire AUD. Maybe it's all the good memories that it brings back, but I think that there is a lot of good energy in this show. Bobby, Jer and Donna Jean have some magic moments when there voices all come together in a mighty roar and that reminds me why I liked the mid-to-late seventies. NFA is a great example of their power.

Thanks for reliving some wonderful moments.

I wanted to give this show a higher rating but I just can't. This is a very well made audience recording, and the setlist is pretty strong, but for some reason this show just never gets much beyond ordinary. Example: "Playin>Shakedown" looks terrfic on paper, but on tape it just sort of sits there; it heats up in a couple of spots but quickly cools back down again.

To my ears this is typical of many shows from '78; there were some good nights (and a few truly great ones) but for the most part the energy of '77 has waned considerably. This issue wouldn't be fully adressed until Kieth and Donna left the band in early '79.

This is one of those shows where the aud
really works . . . you can hear gasps of awed astonishment at the intro to St Stephen . . . (and with good reason i might add).

their is a special ambience to this show.

This is a great Audience copy!I prefer these than SBDs.Listen to the energy at the Pauley!Nice They love each other.A nice nice Download from an overlooked show considering the closing of Winterland the next night

this is pretty damn good aud of a good show, id imagine no one has given it the time of day due to the fact theres so many good sbds for 78 but hey this is good and when its good its good